What if United Productions of America remains open?/filmography/Gerald McBoing-Boing: The Search for the King's Crown (2004)
Gerald McBoing-Boing: The Search for the King's Crown is a 2004 Canadian-American Direct-to-video live-action/animated adventure comedy film based on Dr. Seuss' 1950 animated short, Gerald McBoing-Boing. The film was directed by Robin Budd and story edited/written by John Derevlany, with live-action sequences directed by Mark Osborne. It features the cast of Glenn Barna, Linda Ballantyne, Patrick McKenna, Samantha Weinstein, and Joanne Vannicola, and also has new actors which include Alec Baldwin, Mike Myers, Scarlett Johansson and Jeffrey Tambor. In this film, Snerz devises a plan to discredit his business nemesis Mr. McCloy, Gerald's father, steal the XYZ formula and take over the world by stealing King Moo's crown and framing Mr. McCloy for the crime. Gerald, Janine, and Jacob team up to retrieve the crown from Boing City to save Mr. McCloy from Moo's wrath and the world from Snerz's rule. Previous offers by Universal for a direct-to-video film adaptation of Gerald McBoing-Boing had been rejected by Dr. Seuss' widow, Audrey Geisel, but she eventually accepted one offer in 2002. A writing team consisting of Budd, Derevlany, Kent Osborne and Tim Hill was assembled, conceiving the idea of a mythical hero's quest and the search for a stolen crown, which would bring Gerald, Janine, and Jacob to our real world. It also serves as a premiere for a 2005 television series. The film was widely promoted by Universal Studios, with tie-in promotions made by 7-Eleven, the Cayman Islands and Burger King, which decorated various of its franchises with Gerald McCloy figures. The film was released on November 19, 2004, grossing $140 million worldwide, and received generally mixed reviews from critics. Plot Gerald McCloy cheerfully prepares for the opening ceremony for a second XYZ, expecting his father to promote him as new manager of the radio station. Instead, Mr. McCloy names Squeaky the Mouse as manager, thinking Gerald is too immature to handle the role, much to Gerald's depression. Meanwhile, Snerz complains about his failures, being unable to steal the XYZ formula. He decides to implement the "Plan Z". That night, Gerald drowns his sorrows in ice cream with his best friends, Janine and Jacob. Elsewhere, Snerz steals King Moo's crown, leaving false evidence to frame Mr. McCloy for the crime, and sends the crown to the distant land of Boing City. The next morning, Moo barges into the XYZ2 and threatens Mr. McCloy for his alleged thievery. Gerald arrives and chastises father, but seeing his father's life at risk shocks Gerald back to his senses and he promises Moo that he will retrieve the crown from Boing City. Moo is convinced Mrs. McCloy, Gerald's mother, to spare Mr. McCloy for the time being and freezes him instead, ordering Gerald to return with the crown in 6 days. Soon after Gerald, Janine, and Jacob leave for Boing City, Snerz steals the XYZ formula and uses it to make his terrible role. He also gives away free helmets to his customers, which are actually mind-controlling devices that Snerz activates to control the residents and take over the city. Squeaky goes to the BADGUYS headquarters to confront Snerz, but is captured and enslaved by the residents. After overcoming several setbacks on their journey, including sacrificing the Jolly Jeep to escape a ravenous frogfish, Gerald, Janine, and Jacob reach a dangerous, monster-filled trench. When they finally come to the conclusion that they cannot finish the mission due to their immaturity, they tearfully give up. Princess Mindy, a little mermaid, however, arrives at the trench and tells Gerald, Janine, and Jacob of Snerz's plan. She pretends to magically turn them into knights by giving them armor. With their confidence boosted, they brave the trench but are confronted by Dennis, a hitman hired by Snerz to eliminate them. Dennis is stepped on by a scientist that Gerald, Janine, and Jacob believe to be a Cyclops. The Cyclops grabs Gerald, Janine, and Jacob, and takes them to his lab, revealed to be Boing City. In the lab, Gerald, Janine, and Jacob find the crown, but dry out and die when they are dehydrated by the a heat lamp. Their tears short-circuit the lamp's power cord, and its smoke activates the sprinkler system, reviving them and the other dried Seussian creatures intended to be sold as souvenirs. As the vengeful Seussian creatures attack and overwhelm the Cyclops, Gerald, Janine, and Jacob take the crown and head for the beach, where The Cat in the Hat appears and offers them a ride. He takes them for a ride back to the hometown. Dennis catches up to them but is knocked by a catamaran into the sea. Then, when they arrive at Gerald's hometown, the Cat launches Gerald, Janine, and Jacob through the portal, into their hometown, and down to XYZ2. At XYZ2, King Moo arrives to execute Mr. McCloy much to Snerz's enjoyment, but Gerald, Janine, and Jacob return with the crown just before he is able to do so. They confront Snerz, but he drops a mind-controlling helmet on Moo, enslaving him. Before Snerz can direct Moo to kill them, Gerald, Janine, and Jacob finally accepts their immaturity and bursts into a song which destroys the mind-controlling helmets, freeing King Moo and the residents from Snerz's rule. Snerz tries to escape, but is stepped on by the other citizens. Moo thaws out Mr. McCloy, who promotes Gerald to manager of the XYZ2 in gratitude. Meanwhile, Snerz is arrested by the police for the crimes of brainwashing the citizens, scapegoating Mr. McCloy, and also for stealing Moo's crown. Cast * Glenn Barna as Gerald McCloy * Linda Ballantyne as Mrs. McCloy * Patrick McKenna as Mr. McCloy * Samantha Weinstein as Janine * Joanne Vannicola as Jacob * Deann deGruijter as Narrator * Carlos Ramos as Dr. Malone * Alec Baldwin as Dennis * Scarlett Johansson as Mindy * Jeffrey Tambor as King Moo * Mike Myers as the Cat in the Hat Other characters from the television series also appear in the film, including Dr. Malone and Burp the Dog. Carlos Alazraqui, director Robin Budd, and Neil Ross voice King Moo's squire, a parrot, and the Cyclops, respectively. In a post-credits scene, Mageina Tovah portrays a theater usher. Production Development Universal Studios had approached Robin Budd for a film based on the show, but he refused for more than a year. Budd was concerned, after watching The Iron Giant and Toy Story, about the challenge of Gerald McCloy doing something more cinematically-consequential and inspiring without losing what he calls the Gerald McBoing-Boing "cadence"' He said, "To do a 75-minute movie about Gerald talking in form of sounds to make his friends saying "Nyah, nyah", I think This had to be Gerald in a great adventure. That's where the comedy's coming from, having Gerald and his friends on this incredibly dangerous heroic odyssey with all the odds against them." In 2002, Budd and the show's staff work on the film. The film's plot originally had Gerald rescue Malone from a killer; an obvious reference to the 2003 Disney/Pixar film, Finding Nemo, this was later said by Patrick McKenna to be a "joke" plot to keep fans busy. John Derevlany wrote the film with other writer-animators, Kent Osborne and Tim Hill over a three-month period in a room of a former Glendale, California bank. Osborne said, "It was hugely fun although it did get kind of gamy in there." For the film, the writers created a mythical hero's quest: the search for a stolen crown, which brings Gerald and his friends to our real world. Samantha Weinstein said about the plot, "It's just nuts. I'm continually dazzled and delighted with what these guys came up with." When the film was completed, Budd attempted to make 2005 television series. Casting The film stars the main cast members: Glenn Barna as Gerald, Linda Ballantyne as Mrs. McCloy, Patrick McKenna as Mr. McCloy, Samantha Weinstein as Janine, and Joanne Vannicola as Jacob. It also features Carlos Alazraqui as King Neptune's squire, and Aaron Hendry as the Cyclops. In addition to the series' cast, it was reported on March 23, 2004 that Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Tambor and Alec Baldwin would play Princess Mindy, King Moo and Dennis respectively, and Mike Myers would appear as the Cat in the Hat. Johansson accepted the role because she likes cartoons and was a fan of The Ren & Stimpy Show. When Jeffrey Tambor signed for his voice cameo, he saw his character (King Moo) and joked, "This is me." He remembered the first cartoon he saw, Bambi: "My first cartoon, I had to be carried out crying It was Bambi. It's like the great American wound: the death of Bambi's mother. 'Run, Bambi, run!'" Another guest voice was Alec Baldwin; Budd said that the actor recorded his character Dennis on a "phone": "I wouldn't say that about his performance. He might be mad if we said that. Technically, it was like he was in another booth in the studio." Mike Myers accepted the role as the Cat in the Hat. He said that the film gained him new fans: "It's amazing - so many of the kids were so young and didn't see Shrek so I got a whole new legion of fans." Animation There were a number of stages involved in the making of the film, beginning with a rough animation process of ideas drawn on Post-it notes. The writers drew, working from rough outlines rather than scripts (which made the humor more visual than verbal). The storyboard artists, including Sherm Cohen, then illustrated ideas conceived by the writers. In the series Tom Yasumi and Andrew Overtoom do the animatics, but director Budd and writer John Derevlany did the animatics for the film. Yasumi and Overtoom were the film's animation-timing directors, concentrating on the sheets. The animators worked semi-digitally; pencil-drawn poses would be composited into layouts in Photoshop. Series writer and storyboard artist Erik Wiese left the show for a year to work on the shows, Samurai Jack and Danny Phantom, but returned to do storyboards and character layout for the film. He "always wanted to be a feature animator, and the movie felt like I was on the character animation end", describing the experience as "a blast it felt like coming home." Budd enjoyed the process of making the film: "The TV schedule is tight, and you don't always have a lot of time to work on your drawings." He appreciated the film's hand-drawn animation: "I think the movie's drawings are much superior than the TV show", although CGI animation was flourishing at the time of the film's release. "There's a lot of talk about 2-D being dead, and I hope people don't think that. Even Brad Bird is a proponent of 2-D. He would agree with me that it's all about what you're trying to say. There are many ways to tell a story, and what's unique about animation is that there are many styles with which to tell a story." The clay animation scenes were shot by Mark Caballero, Seamus Walsh and Chris Finnegan at Screen Novelties in Los Angeles. Filming The film features live-action scenes directed by Mark Osborne in Santa Monica, California. The ship used during the 30-second opening featuring the pirates singing the theme song was the Bounty, a 180-foot (55 m)-long, enlarged reconstruction of the 1787 Royal Navy sailing ship HMS Bounty built for 1962's Mutiny on the Bounty. The ship appeared in a number of other films, including Treasure Island (1999), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007). In film trailers, live-action scenes were taken from Das Boot (1981), The Hunt for Red October (1990) and U-571 (2000). The Cat in the Hat made a cameo in the live-action scenes, offering Gerald and his friends a ride to the hometown. The scene was originally written before consulting Myers. Budd was pleased with the storyboards. Audrey Geisel said, "He had been wrestling with the ending for quite a while, and finally he was ready to pitch his ideas to some of the other board artists." Budd was counting on casting Myers, and the first question he asked him was "So, do we have Budd?" He replied "No", with a grin. Myers eventually agreed, before seeing the script. Myers said about the actor, "He's a great guy He was great at making fun of himself." Deleted scenes The DVD and Blu-ray releases include animatics of deleted scenes from the film, including Gerald, Janine, and Jacob's meeting with Malone. Jacob repeatedly vomits, upset by Malone's unusual appearance. He informs Gerald, Janine, and Jacob that they can return to his hometown by taking a bus at the beach. In 2013 Sherm Cohen, released a storyboard panel of a deleted scene from the film with Gerald awakening from his dream saying "WEEEEE!" and Mr. McCloy holding a hat. Soundtrack David Newman composed the score for the film, conducting the recording sessions (in 5.1 surround sound). Newman was signed when Derevlany recommended him to Budd after they worked together at the Associated Production Music library. Newman was honored at the 2005 ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards for his work on the film, and received a nomination for Music in an Animated Feature Production at the 32nd Annie Awards. American rock band The Flaming Lips recorded "Gerald, Janine, and Jacob Confront the Psychic Wall of Energy". They shot the song's music video, directed by band member Wayne Coyne and filmmaker Bradley Beesley, in Austin, Texas. American band Wilco wrote and recorded "Just a Kid". One of the film's producers contacted frontman Jeff Tweedy after seeing a Gerald air freshener hanging from Tweedy's rearview mirror in I Am Trying to Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco. Tweedy said, "I fell in love with Gerald when I heard him describe the darkness at the bottom of the sea as 'advanced darkness' How could I not write a song for this film? It automatically makes me the coolest dad on the block." Avril Lavigne recorded the series' theme for the soundtrack. Other artists contributing to the soundtrack were Motörhead, singing ""You'd Better Run"; Prince Paul ("Prince Paul's Bubble Party"); Ween ("Ocean Man"), and the Shins ("They'll Soon Discover", partially written in 2001). Release The film had its yellow-carpet world premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on November 14, 2004. The first teaser trailer was released on December 26, 2003, and was attached to Peter Pan. The second trailer trailer was released on May 19, 2004, and was attached to Shrek 2. Gerald McBoing-Boing: The Search for the King's Crown released on VHS and DVD on November 19, 2004. Category:What if